Articles

Star Count May Triple

Star count may triple, according to articles in ScienceDaily and Nature 1 December 2010. Astronomers have been studying nearby elliptical galaxies using the Keck Observatory, Hawaii, to look for signs of red dwarfs. These are small dim stars that up until now, astronomers had not detected in other galaxies. They found there are about 20 times more red dwarfs in elliptical galaxies than in the Milky Way, which is the spiral galaxy we live in. Charlie Conroy of the Harvard-Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics, one of the researchers, explained: “We usually assume other galaxies look like our own. But this suggests other conditions are possible in other galaxies. So this discovery could have a major impact on our understanding of galaxy formation and evolution.”

According to Yale University astronomer Pieter van Dokkum, “No one knew how many of these stars there were. Different theoretical models predicted a wide range of possibilities, so this answers a longstanding question about just how abundant these stars are.” The results mean there maybe three times as many stars in the universe as previously estimated.

Editorial Comment: There is actually someone who knows how many stars there are, and the ancient Hebrew Psalmist tells us the Creator of the heaven determines the number of the stars and gives names to all of them. (Psalm 147:4) How amazing that when the same all-powerful God who knows every star and planet in the universe sent the Lord Jesus Christ to be born into the human race He provided a star as a sign to those wise men who were far off, but were seeking God. Wise men still do! How about you? (Ref. astronomy, universe, space)